Better D.I.Y.: Deck Refinishing

Since we put our house on the market, the projects have taken a back seat. We don't want to put anymore money into the house if we are moving.

When I put the deck on last year, I applied Olympic Maximum Clear Waterproofing Sealant (http://www.olympic.com/Stain/Find_Products/clear_maximum.aspx). I used a roller as recommended, but it just bubbled up. I used a brush on the stairs and it seemed to work better as I was able to back brush it and remove the excess. Well, within a couple of months of heavy rain, the finish decided to stop working and the boards were starting to turn gray.

I read a review of the OneTime and decided that it couldn't be worse than what I have on there now. I also liked the fact that it was 100% solids. I purchased a gallon of the http://www.onetimewood.com last year in anticipation of refinishing the deck. I never got around to it, so it has been sitting.

Review from HomeConstructionImprovement blog. And 10 months later.

I took the last 2 weekends refinishing the deck. I did half the deck at a time so we wouldn't have to remove the grill or other items from the deck (just move them to the side).

Here is a before picture of how the deck looked and why it needed to be redone.

I started out by pressure washing the deck. This took about 4 hours per half (8 hours total). Here is the after pressure washing picture. The grain has lifted and the surface is very uneven. The deck was really bad which is why I had to go so deep with the pressure washing.

After that, I used the belt sander to sand the surface. This took another 4 hours per section (8 hours total). This is the post sanding picture. Notice how much smoother it is.

Here are some pictures of me sanding. The children are wondering why they can't come on the deck too.

After sanding, I applied the OneTime wood protector. I couldn't find anything on the website, on the container or any literature mentioning that you would have to apply 2 coats, so I only applied one. Took about 6 hours to apply the protector with a brush. I wasn't going to chance it with a roller this time.

Here are the after pictures. You can even see a comparison shot. The OneTime protector dries much lighter in color (looks red in the picture). I would have preferred to use the Red Cedar myself, but the wife decided she wanted the natural finish and of course she won :)